Abstract
* © 1997 Irwin P. Stotzky. I wish to thank the officers and staff of the InterAmerican Law Review for their generosity in honoring me with the 1997 Lawyer of the Americas award. I am particularly grateful to Allyn Danzeisen for her energy and efficiency. I am especially grateful to Ian Hochman for all of his wonderful work in organizing the banquet. David Schiller deserves special thanks for editing the essay. Mistakes, of course, are mine alone. ** Irwin P. Stotzky is the 1997 recipient of the University of Miami Inter-American Law Review's Lawyer of the Americas Award. Irwin P. Stotzky is a Professor of Law at the University of Miami School of Law. He has served as an attorney and adviser to Jean-Bertrand Aristide and adviser to the Rene Preval administration. In these positions, he has been in charge of organizing the investigations and prosecutions of those who committed massive human rights abuses during the military coup period, between 1991 and 1994. This essay reflects the substance of the remarks Professor Stotzky made on April 11, 1997, at the banquet honoring him as the 1997 Lawyer of the Americas. It also reflects the ideas and themes of his recently published book, SILENCING THE GUNS In Haiti: The Promise of Deliberative Democracy (Dec. 1997).